Akari Shinohara
Ayaka Onouei |english_voice=Hilary Haag Erika Weinstein Tara Platt |image2= Shinohara child manga.jpg|Child Shinohara teen manga.jpg|Teenager Shinohara adult manga.jpg|Adult |2head=Manga |age=26 |birthplace=Uchinomiya |status=Engaged/Married |family=Unnamed father Unnamed mother Unnamed aunt Yuichi |gender=Female |occupation=Bookstore clerk Bookstore buyer }} is a main character of . She is a childhood friend of Takaki Tōno and his first love interest. Background Akari was born in Uchinomiya, but later moved to Akita, Shizuoka and Ishikawa with her family when she started elementary school, In which is written from Takaki Tōno's point of view, Akari moved directly from Uchinomiya to Shizuoka to Tokyo before moving to Tokyo right at the beginning of her fourth year. There she met Takaki, and quickly befriended him due to their similar circumstances. They were always together, and because of this there were rumours about their relationship. The next year, despite being in different classes, Akari and Takaki continued to pass time together, joining the science club, and began to study in order to get into the same middle school. In Childhood One day during their Grade 6, as they pass by a small grove full of cherry blossoms on their way from school, Akari talk with Takaki about how the petals' falling speed is 5cm/s. While they pass the entrance exam, Akari's parents reveal to her that they were to move to , in the because of work. Akari tries to convince them to let her stay in Tokyo at her aunt's house to no avail, and shares the sad news with Takaki through the phone. On graduation day, they part ways. In the first year of middle school, Akari and Takaki exchange letters. When Takaki writes to her that he was moving too – in his case, to – they plan to meet in Iwafune before he transfers. On the day of the appointment, Akari wait for hours at the train station, since Takaki's train is delayed because of a snowstorm. When he arrives, she gives him the she made for the occasion, and has dinner with him. When the station closes, the two go out in the town covered by the snow. They stop at a cherry tree and exchange a kiss. Afterwards, they find a shed to sleep in. The next morning, Takaki takes the train for Tokyo, promising her that he'd send some letters. Akari tells him that he would be fine, she was sure of it. After his train departs, she gets a letter out of her bag, which she has written to give him, but could not. Adulthood During her years in Iwafune, she exchanges letters with Takaki less often and eventually loses contacts with him. Thirteen years later, she meets a man and the two got engaged. One day at her parents' home in Iwafune, while going through the stuff she has kept from her school days, she finds the letter she had planned to give to Takaki in their last meeting. She smiles, remembering how happy she was at the time. One month before her wedding to Yūichi, she returns to Tokyo to prepare for the event. On a day in April 2008 where the cherry blossom petals were slowly falling to the ground, Akari goes to take a walk. Somewhere in Tokyo, she passes at a train crossing, while a man is coming from the other side. For a moment, Akari seems to recognize an adult Takaki, however when she turns around to check a train covers her field of vision, and she decides to walk away without waiting for the train to pass. In During her high school years, she is asked out by at least one schoolmate. She keeps visiting the Iwafune Station to refresh her memories and feelings for Takaki, but even that gradually fades away over time, tormenting her. In After high school, Akari enrolls in the Japanese literature department of a so-called private "Megaversity" in Tokyo, where she becomes a close friend of Nomiya. During this time, she also involves in some unsuccessful romantic relationships. After graduated, she becomes a shop clerk at an outlet of a big bookstore chain for two years, before transferred to the buying department, where she meets her future husband. Gallery Grade 7 Shinohara.jpg|Grade 7's uniform Teen Shinohara.jpg|Highschool uniform 5cms1.jpg|In Trivia * Her name is likely based on Mika Shinohara, Makoto Shinkai's former girlfriend who also voiced in his previous works like Voices of a Distant Star References